The market is crowded. Any day a Nigerian graduate fails to land a job, the chance reduces. Yes, with more people graduating and few companies creating opportunities, the market is saturated. In that sea, you need to find a voice – a separation from the multitude. My first colleague in our Nigerian business was discovered on Facebook when I was there. He posted 100% purely on electronics. I hired him; he is still with us. Our Engr demonstrated a clear separation on his feeds. He likes electronics and that was key to us.

Our best software developer was brought it after I saw a website he built. We acquired him and his small firm; shut down the site. When he joined, I did not even know if he finished university. We never advertise any job with any academic qualification [an irony for a guy with 7 degrees!]. To deal with the English issue, we hired an English graduate to police the grammar; the engineers are liberated.

The web is here for you to tell people what you know. Forget what Buhari and Goodluck are dealing with [you would have time to help government. Now, you just need a job].   Focus on the little you know. The employers will find you. We’re hiring guys from Ikeja Computer Village. None has even an OND but they can make electronics behave.

I had my own experience – in 2011, Harvard Business Review invited me to Cambridge. I wanted to know how they found me. They showed me a piece I wrote in my generic WordPress page which one HBS professor printed and commented, passing the info to the HBR team.

I cannot understand how you claim to be a brilliant Economics graduate and yet have zero articles online? I cannot even imagine how you expect a policy NGO to hire you? NGOs feed on reports. It is easier to onboard someone that has a history of generating contents.

You need a strategy to get a job. It goes beyond sending CVs. You need a separation from the multitude to show employers you are different. Go and summarize your final year project and post the summary online. Find companies that could benefit from your works. Share the link with them, not your CV [look for HR on LinkedIn]. If they read and link it, you could get an invitation. For technical guys, maintain a small online presence and document your solution journey.

The best innovation you need now is one to get a job before you can have the opportunity to innovate for any firm. I want you to find a way to create a space and build a small separation. I have a reseller hosting service which I pay yearly to give hosting support to people who need space to show their works online. If you need one, email tekedia@fasmicro.com but you would have to pay for domain registration.

I wish you good luck.

Nd

I noted this morning that fresh graduates should endeavor to have work experiences before they move into the path of entrepreneurship. Largely, some on LinkedIn noted that people without jobs have to do something. Yes, they become “entrepreneurs” if there are no jobs upon graduation.

Entrepreneurship is hot. It is exciting. Many want to be entrepreneurs immediately upon graduation from schools. I have a word for you: NO. Yes, you are not likely to thrive in Nigeria if you start any business immediately upon graduation. Besides capabilities, you need to learn, build networks and test everything they have taught you in school.

While you can hire people as you grow, it is very likely you would do most things at the beginning. So, it makes sense to learn how to do those things while working for another person.

Entrepreneurship is a high intensity call – it is not a vacation. Do not be deceived by Americans that dropped out of college to build empires. No one would tell you that most have “mini-teachers” or executive coaches helping them. And the VCs that pump those millions into them are super-mentors which could be like teachers. We do not have these elements yet in Nigeria. That is why working for at least 3 years would help your vision.

Unfortunately, that is the confusion. It is not likely the fresh graduates are entrepreneurs. They are going to be “small business owners”. Yes, they would not be entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs are more than registering companies in CAC and holding business cards. To become one, the business must have scalability and is practically an organic system that grows. That guy that started one, out of college, would likely remain a small business owner while the guy that has business experience would become an entrepreneur.

I have called that the Aba Paralysis [after a city in southeastern Nigeria with many artisans] where a shoemaker does the same thing for 30 years until he retires to his village. Yes, the business did not grow – same 5 people for 30 years. The shoemaker was a small business owner, not an entrepreneur. To become an entrepreneur in Nigeria, working for someone would make that path easier.

Interestingly, while being a small business owner can come because of lack of job opportunities, being an entrepreneur typically does not emanate because of lack of job. Entrepreneurs typically have great alternatives as they have special skills for the market frictions they are hoping to solve.  Indeed, there is that element that I know this so well that it is better I do it for myself than another person. Then you open a shop to build a business. That was a defined choice out of multiple alternatives. The small business owner had only one option: no job, do something to be busy.